Felix Hernandez matches the hype, Mariners win seventh in a row

There was a lot of pressure on Felix Hernandez tonight, walking out there to a sea of 39,204 yellow-clad, placard-waving fans who were treating his every strike to an ovation. Hernandez didn’t have the same stuff he did against the Rays last week, but he had enough to keep his team in a tight-fought game until the very end.
Jesus Montero blew this 5-1 win wide open with a three-run homer in the seventh, but even that didn’t look entirely safe in the eighth.
The Indians put the first two batters on against Hernandez, who the yielded some deep fly balls to Jason Kipnis and Asdrubal Cabrera. The Cabrera ball looked like a three-run homer off his bat, but was caught at the base of the wall by Eric Thames.
Whew!
That was it for Hernandez, pulled after 7 2/3 innings and 105 pitches. He allowed just the one run, struck out five and is now charging full speed ahead towards what he hopes will be a second Cy Young Award.
The Mariners? They’ve won seven in a row and 14 of 15 at home. They are on quite a roll ad now sit just four games under .500.
Quite a night at Safeco Field!